Essay On Labour Productivity

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There are many papers on Labour Productivity and its improvement. But application of Work Study for improving Labour Productivity is very limited. Work Study applications are more common in manufacturing industry, but now its application is increasing in construction industry as well.

2.2 Labour Productivity
Since the construction labours are the most dynamic element in the construction industry improving labour efficiency has become a target for construction companies. One of the most efficient ways to increase labour efficiency is that of improving their productivity. Hence, by increasing labour productivity, less number of workers can achieve same production rate, which leads to lower cost and enhances the company's chance to win new contracts.

2.2.1 What is Labour Productivity?
Back in 1980s , no standardized productivity definition was established in construction industry. It is difficult to define a standard productivity measure because companies use their internal systems which are not standardised. Productivity can be illustrated as an association between output and an input.

Productivity = Output/Input
Or
Productivity = Input/output

Productivity measures can be placed into two categories (Attar, Gupta & Desai, 2012)
1. Single factor or partial productivity measures relate a particular measure of output to a single measure of input, such as labour or capital. Labour productivity that considers only labour as an input is commonly used in the construction industry.
2. Multi-factor or total productivity measures (MFP) relate a particular measure of output to a group of inputs, or total inputs used.

Horner and Talhouni (1998) stated “A popular concept in the USA, and increasingly in the UK, is the concept of earned hour...

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...tors)
• Quality (3 factors)
• Financial (6 factors)
• Leadership and coordination (5 factors)
• Organization (12 factors)
• Owner/consultant (4 factors)
• External factor (10 factors)

In one research in Gujarat, India, close-ended questionnaire survey was done to find factors affecting labour productivity (Mistry Soham & Bhatt Rajiv, 2013). On the basis of related hprevious studies on labour productivity and the input of local industry experts, professionals, and practitioners, 27 factors were identified which are having an influence on construction labour productivity in the Gujarat state of India.

In latest study in Egypt (Hafez et al,2014) , three important factors were identified that affect labour productivity the most. These are:

• Payment delay and Motivation of labour
• Skill of labour and a shortage of experienced labour:
• Lack of labour supervision

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